The Comparative Guilds Survey (CGS) has at long last come so far as to be made public. This survey compares some of the Guilds of the World of Yliakum created by active members of the Planeshift Community.
The purpose of this survey is to provide a quick and easy overview of the existing \"guild-landscape\" in Planeshift. As such it is meant to assist both existing members of the PS community, and newcomers to the gaming experience that is Planeshift. This survey is by now means complete and does not cover all guilds.
This is due to the fluid nature of the guild-landscape in the Planeshift Community. There are new guilds and older guilds. Some of the newer ones are very active and growing, others have not yet gotten out of their starting blocks. Some older guilds are steeped in tradition, have developed good and strong relations within the guild and are recruiting very selectively. On the not so bright side there are older guilds have stagnated and/or have become inactive and many new guilds fail within a rather short timespan. There is a kind of natural selection taking place weeding out the untenable guilds and leaving the viable ones with committed and enthusiastic members to dominate the landscape.
As a first step this survey has included 10 existing guilds in its comparison (one has unfortunately become defunct so 9 for the moment). It is a subjective selection and in no way reflects which guilds are the oldest, strongest, best established or best functioning. Rather these 10 have been chosen exactly because they, in the view of the authors, represent a spread of the variety of guilds that do exist in Planeshift. We have selected both old and new guilds, ones with more than 30 members and ones with less than 10. There are specialized guilds and general guilds, ones that are bound by a common interest in a craft, trade or profession and ones that have a common crede amongst members only.
The aim of this launch of the survey including these 10 guilds only is to set in motion a process by which we provide a template of the information we require and the format in which we require it so that all other active guilds can submit their data to us. The survey will thus be expanded to the extend that other guilds respond by submitting their information to us in the format required. This is also a good way of finding which guilds are actually active and which not.
In conclusion this survey cannot, and does not claim to, answer all the question that someone trying to get to know the guild-landscape might have. Rather this survey is intended to provide an overview, like a road map, of which guilds there are and how they compare. It will be up to the individual gamer to contact the guild, speak to its members and assess for him/herself the quality of the guild in question and his or her own compatibility with it.
Prosperous gaming, and may the best guilds survive!
